More Auburn

The more I think about this game, the less I have a good feeling about it. Yes, I think we have more talent than Auburn, but we have been making mistakes and playing so poorly lately that I think we are not peaking. We're valleying. Our passing game has been unreliable, and we have turned to running twice as much as we pass. Our defense looked very ordinary against Kentucky, and hasn't dominated an opponent since we played MTSU.

It is certainly possible that the loss to Kentucky will propel us out of our doldrums and motivate us to play a spirited game against arguably our most hated rival.

The good news is that I don't think Auburn is as good as Kentucky, and Kentucky had to play their best game to beat us. The better news is that I do not think Auburn is capable of beating us unless they play at their highest level and we fail to play at our highest level. The bad news is that we haven't played at our highest level in quite some time, and Auburn has.

For what it's worth, put me in the camp that says a) put Perrilloux in the game more and b) use blitzes and press coverage more.

As for Perrilloux, it is clear that he is the more talented QB between he and Flynn. Flynn's more experienced, but he has not been effective. If you look at the conference statistics, Flynn is in the bottom half in terms of his effectiveness. Part of that has certainly been his injured ankle, which allegedly is healed up now. Another part of that has certainly been drops by the receivers, and I can't blame him for that. Perrilloux has simply been much more effective, with the same receivers and the same blockers. Part of that may be that he is a "change up" who only gets specialty plays, but maybe we should be using those plays more.

Last night, I watched the Rutgers vs. South Florida game, and Rutgers gave us some of the help we needed. They did it by sacking the USF quarterback 7 times and pressuring him many more times. They did that by blitzing a lot. I know that QBs are using a lot of quick drops and quick throws to neutralize our rush, but that only intensifies the need to get pressure. We should be taking advantage of their plan to throw quickly by using pressure coverage and not let receivers get into their routes. Tight, press coverage is how you beat a quick passing game, and that frees up more players to rush. Lately, we've been letting QBs have their way in the pocket.

Tomorrow's going to be a very long day, but I'm excited about it. Football is a wonderful sport, and we're still very much in the hunt for the national championship and the conference championship. All we need to do is win. Win our games, and the rest of it should take care of itself.